What is a Wine Consumer?

There are two main groups of Wine Consumers:

Neo Consumers

Icon Consumers

Neo Consumers are seekers of new and modern wine ideas. Their consumer habits and buying patterns are triggered by emerging trends and technologies.

Icon Consumers embrace a more traditional view on wine. Their consumer habits and buying patterns are stimulated by quality of life and lifestyle related activities.

Within these two groups are four sub groups which are common to both parent groups:

Stock Consumers (drink wine daily or weekly)

Stock Consumers are driven to improve their personal wine stock and they enjoy the challenges involved in building it. While this group is the smallest, they are responsible for making the largest single wine purchases (usually for their privately held cellar inventory). Price and rarity usually matter most to this consumer. Perception and impression are also key factors for this group's purchase decisions.

Core Consumers (drink wine daily or weekly)

Core Consumers are interested in becoming well educated wine consumers. They pride themselves in their understanding of wine and in the acquiring of new wine knowledge. They closely regard Value vs. Quality and they continue to find new ways of integrating the appreciation of wine into their lifestyle. Core consumers often have small wine collections or stocks.

Value/Opportunity-Based Consumers (drink wine weekly or monthly)

The Value/Opportunity-Based Consumer like wine but only enjoy it on an irregular basis. They are unlikely to purchase a wine above the median price range. Although their understanding of wine is limited, they value finding deals on highly recommended wines.

Curious Consumers (drink wine monthly or less)

Curious Consumers are not sure if they really like wine and usually only drink it when in the company of other wine drinkers. They seldom purchase wine except for a special occasion and as a gift. They are easily intimidated by the vast amount of topics regarding wine. They are curious about wine but they are heavily reliant on outside guidance or influence when drinking.

WineConsumer Magazine 2006